The Lost One
by brown phantom
Summary: Left alone in the woods to his thoughts, Ryoga thinks about just what has been happening in his life and where he should go. Part Two in a Ranma monologue series.


Night has come, and I guess it's just as good a time as any to set up camp. And it's a good place to too. All I see is the familiar sight of trees, grass, rocks, and stars. And yet it's not familiar enough for me to recognize where I am. Once again, I'm lost like always.

If you don't already know me, my name's Ryoga Hibiki. I'm probably better known as P-Chan, Lost Boy, Jackass, Charlotte, Bacon Breath, and others I'm probably not even aware of. I'm not exactly a respected person so my nicknames should tell you just how everyone sees me. Nearly everyone in Nerima looks down on me because of one of my weaknesses, mostly my horrible sense of direction. And the weird thing is that that particular district is practically home to me now. Hell, I've been there more in the past month than my real home in the past four or five years. Just how long have I been wandering around, trying to get anywhere?

However long it's been, it's been the most trying time of my life. I've been cursed in China to turn into a piglet, which explains many of the nicknames. I've had gained more rivals than I cared for, all because I wanted to best my main rival Ranma Saotome just once. I've been humiliated in many ways I may never be able to forget. Like the times with the stupid face on my stomach or the... ugh... incident with the magic fishing rod. That gave me nightmares for weeks.

But... I guess the past few years, the last two in particular, weren't a complete waste. I have learned some new martial arts techniques that greatly help me out. I have gained a few friends, like Akane Tendo and even Ukyo Kuonji. Oddly, even Ranma himself is on somewhat friendly terms now somehow. Sure, I still want to defeat him to prove I can, but at least I don't feel driven to kill him anymore. The battle with Saffron probably crushed that desire permanently. If he could kill a god, or whatever the birdman was, then surely I could never kill Ranma Saotome.

Sadly, that wasn't the only desire that was crushed because of that duel. For the past two years, I have secretly longed for Akane Tendo. Although I guess it really wasn't that much of a secret. Practically everyone saw it except Akane herself, although I can't speak for the Kuno's. With how insane they are, it's impossible for anyone else to really know what they think. Anyway, I had always hoped that someday she would leave Ranma permanently and choose to be with me. But now I know it can't happen.

Why? Because now, unless you're a Kuno, it's impossible to see that those two care for each other. Ranma managed to kill an immortal being to save her, and she even managed to help him when in a shrunken doll form. They both deny it, but both are afraid to lose the other and want the other to like them back. I've heard that they've calmed their ways after the wedding, which I sorta arrived at by accident. I was lost and crashed through a wall, then I heard that some Nannichuan water was there and tried to get it to cure myself. Unfortunately, that shriveled-up excuse of an old freak named Happosai just had to drink it all. Couldn't he have realized it was water and not sake before he swallowed? So naturally, the men who were cursed at Jusenkyo, me included, started a fight because we didn't know how else to react to this.

Even so, curse or no curse, I can't be with Akane the way I fantasized about. If she knew about P-Chan, her infamous anger would mallet me across the Pacific, and that's if I'm lucky. She might even decide to serve me as dinner, although I'm a little sure she wouldn't go that far. Only partially sure, I repeat. Even so, letting go of a crush isn't easy. Just what am I supposed to do now?

Suddenly, I hear a weird noise behind me. One very familiar to me, since sometimes I make it myself. I stop setting up my tent and turn behind me to see a pig stare at me curiously, like a stray dog searching for a handout. It looked more like a farm pig than a wild one. Normally the sight of a pig disgusts me since they remind me of my own weakness, but here I feel mostly curiosity. After all, why would a pig that looked cared for be here in the woods kilometers from any people.

I hear some rustling in the bushes and see a very cute girl step out. She wears a sweater and a skirt, and has brown hair with two pink streaks in it. She goes right to the pig and takes ahold of it, saying, "There you are. Don't ever do that again, you hear me." Then she stands up and sees me, and beams brightly like Kasumi Tendo is known to do often. "Ryoga dear, you're back!" She comes to me and actually pulls me into a hug. It feels nice.

"Hi Akari. Um... what are you doing here?"

She pulls away to look me right in the eyes. Her own are quite cute. "Silly boy. You're right behind my family ranch. It's on the other side of these trees if you look." I look where she points and definitely see her house. How I missed it I'll never know, because if I did I wouldn't get lost so much anymore. "This guy ran off again and I had to get him. It's really lucky that you just happened to be here too."

"Yeah, it is."

She sees my somewhat set up campsite. "You can sleep in the guestroom again tonight if you'd like. Then tomorrow I'll help you go wherever you were trying to go."

My heart of ice melts a little. Here's a girl that admires me and is even willing to put up with my Chinese curse and family curse. Maybe it'll be easier to give Ranma and Akane a chance if I give myself and Akari a chance too. "Thank you. But I wasn't really going anywhere tomorrow so if you don't mind I could help you at your home then."

She smiles brightly. "Sure. I'd like that." She then takes my hand and leads me and the runaway pig back to her home. Somehow, I feel like I'm returning home too.

It's amazing how anything lost can be found.

The End

AN: In most stories that I read, Ryoga is often portrayed quite negatively. I'm of the opinion that as the story progresses, Ryoga lightens up and by the end his rivalry with Ranma is mostly force of habit or just their way of having fun. Also I'm sure that in Jusendo he has to realize that he can't compete with Ranma for Akane's heart. After all, in the last chapter he was trying to get to Akari. Also, I don't blame him for the trouble at the wedding since he showed up by accident. Ryoga may have a lot of bad characteristics, but he's not completely despicable like Genma, who'd rob the family grave for 2000 yen (about 20 dollars American if you don't know yen).

This is the second part of a series of Ranma monologues where the characters reveal a little about how they think, or at least how I interpret that. The first was The Quiet One, and the next will be about Ukyo. There should be about six or seven parts to this set, counting the ones I've already mentioned and this one. Hope you enjoy them all, and reviews will encourage me to write more often.


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